Apr 23 2009, 11:04 PM, updated 17y ago
We’re pitting two apps head-to-head that have both proven the ability to add a great deal of missing functionality to the default offering by S60. In one corner is a clearly more visually pleasing task manager- Handy Taskman. As a reader of Symbian-Guru, it’s quite possible you’ve heard of this one on a number of occasions- for good reason. Handy Taskman is truly a killer app that finds its way on to plenty of S60 ‘power users’ lists as a “must have app” or among those applications that are installed on a device first. It is installed on my phone immediately after setting the location and time/date- if I weren’t prompted to do so upon the boot of a fresh device, it would happen even before this. It’s that good, and that important.
The other corner is an app from Juriy Bakunin, a Russian coder, called JBak Task Manager that shows the perennial favorite some competition. Visually- it’s not much to speak of… at all. In fact it can be downright unpleasant on the eyes - though this shouldn’t put you off from giving it a shot. There are several features and a wealth of settings not available in HandyTaskman that we find with JBak Taskman. Let’s start with the main screens of the two apps.
Main screen and interface
As you can see, Handy Taskman offers a clean and well thought out interface while the interface on JBak Taskman looks muddled and much of the visual appearance and features look like afterthoughts. It may very well be just my opinion, but I far prefer applications where visual appearance and intuitive design play a large role in development. Visual appearance counts for a great deal with me, so this is a big +1 for Handy Taskman.
That being said, if we can over look the appearance for a moment- you can see several differences in the application already from here. While it all seems to be jammed in there, you’ve got a bit more information and functionality from JBak Taskman’s home screen. For starters, the battery and signal meter is still displayed in JBak’s app- as well as a 24-hour mode clock. +1 JBak
Shortcuts vs. Recently accessed list
There’s also a sort of speed dial shortcut list present in the standby screen- any of these apps can be launched right off by pressing the numeric key associated with the item. It’s also not just limited to tasks- you can add documents as well. You can see in my list that #5 is a note labeled “Channel Li(st)”- this is a handy list of local channels for reference with SlingPlayer. Handy Taskman does not offer this feature; a right press on the D-pad will display your last 20 used applications for quick access.
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